On politics in the Golden State

Prop. 23: How the West was (not) won

Early on, opponents of Prop. 23, the ballot initiative to suspend California's global warming law, characterized the battle as "David vs. Goliath." As Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for the No on 23 campaign, put it, "It's our slingshot versus their oily club."

Among the backers of the measure were Texas-based oil refiners, California business trade associations and anti-tax activists bent on halting the nation's most ambitious effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

But the analogy was pure spin. As they say in the movie, "Follow the money."

Read more in The Times' Greenspace blog about how a massive coalition of environmentalists, green-tech moguls, health groups, Latino activists, unions and celebrities orchestrated the initiative's defeat.